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“I think we are more than more.”
Epilogue
2 months later…
Evie
I turn my gaze out the window to the little deck as the phone rings in my ear. The fingers of my free hand clench in order to quell the nerves. My stomach twists in anticipation. Rhett should
be home at any moment, and I don’t know how he’ll react to my impulsive move.
Before I can consider the thought further, the line connects.
“If you’re calling about our contract, it’s void. You can speak to my lawyer, but I paid you for the work performed.”
“I’m not calling about the contract,” I answer softly. She really thinks I’m calling about a month-to-month contract for cleaning services? This woman is incredibly dense.
“Then I have nothing to say to you,” she sneers.
“Nora, please listen.” I inject my tone with a plea I feel down to my soul.
A beat of silence pulses over the line. I take her lack of retort as a positive sign.
“I’m calling about Tommy.” I forge on.
“This isn’t any of your business.” Her voice cracks like a whip, but I still hear the concern. She’s covering her fear with a bitchy bravado that I see straight through.
“The decree is finished. But we both know if you came back, Rhett would work something out.” He’s said as much over the month since the divorce was finalized. Though, he’s still too hurt to bridge the divide. “Tommy needs you.”
“It sounds to me like he has you.” Her tone loses heat by the minute.
“You’re so lucky,” I breathe and blink back the sting of tears. “You carried him inside you. You felt his kicks. You received that precious gift, and you’ve turned your back on him without a single blink.”
“You don’t have the right—”
I cut her off.
“Oh, but I do. I do because his dad might not find it inside to reach out to you again. You’ve hurt Rhett with your games, but going so far to hurt his son is unforgivable. I’m begging you, Nora, to reconsider your stance and come see your son. Before it’s too late.”
She scoffs. “Rhett would never keep me away from Tommy.”
I shrug, though she can’t see it. “He might not. But someday, that little boy is going to grow into a child, and a teenager, and a young man. And no matter how hard his dad tries to protect him from what you’re doing, Tommy’s eventually going to feel that hurt. We can love him to soften the blow. And I can only hope he doesn’t feel the full force of your abandonment.”
I turn my attention to the door swinging open. Rhett steps just inside the threshold, his face a mixture of concern and confusion as he sees me. I wonder if he heard part of what I said through the door.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asks, capturing my attention again. My eyes remain locked on Rhett’s as I answer.
“Because I’m not one of the lucky ones. Not yet anyway. And as much as it hurts that I may never have a baby of my own, I’m falling in love with your little boy day by day.”
Rhett’s brown eyes heat, and his nostrils flare.
“Sounds to me like you don’t need me at all.” The conviction in Nora’s earlier tone has burned itself out.
“I’m not his mother.” I swallow hard to force down the lump in my throat. “I won’t ever be his mother. But I can tuck him in and make him pancakes and patch skinned elbows and knees if you refuse to step up and be here.”
While Nora remains silent, Rhett closes the distance between us and crouches in front of me. His warm palms settle on each of my thighs, and his face is filled with such open love and desire that I want to chuck this phone across the room and climb into his lap.
“I don’t know what to say.” Nora breaks into the moment.
